Lead into Gold
by Tjin
Summary: Post season 5: Xander tries to bring Buffy back from the dead.


Lead into Gold.

--

Xander was worried, Joyce and Buffy Summers were dead, Dawn had been slipping deeper and deeper into a depression, Anya had returned his ring and left Sunnydale to find her fortune out in the world, Giles had left for England, and Willow.

Willow was sure Buffy had ended up in a Hell Dimension.

Tara had confided that Willow would spend all day and night researching ways to bring her back, her sporadic sleeps would almost always be woken with the redhead witch screaming for her lost friend.

All of this would be bad, the increase in demonic activity was just the icing on the cake.

Taking a breath, Xander gripped Dawn and Willows hands as they three nodded at each other before setting their hands on the circle they had carefully cut into the ground over the slayer's grave.

With a flash of light, the circle glowed an unearthly blue color for a moment before everything disappeared.

Standing in a world comprised of light, Xander looked up at the massive doors before him.

With a rumbling groan, the massive doors opened to a void, darkness and shadows… and eyes.

This was it, they wanted something for bringing Buffy back.

Turning around, Xander saw Dawn and Willow crouched beside the still form of Buffy before he turned back towards the Gate.

Taking an unneeded breath, he stepped into the void without another look back.

He could feel them, hundreds, thousands, millions of dark evil hands sliding over him, with a wrenching pain, Xander felt pieces of himself being pulled off his body as the dark hands grappled for his flesh.

Screaming in pain, he felt something ripping the dark forms from him as he plummeted through the darkness towards his destination.

--

"He must be some sort of Alchemist." A voice whispered as Xander wondered why the dark void he had fallen into felt so much like a soft bed instead of the unfeeling oblivion he had originally been subjected to.

Not that he was complaining, but he would like to know who changed it and how he could thank them.

"Of course he's an alchemist, didn't you see that Chimera he had with him, probably an undercover state alchemist." A second voice hissed as Xander tried to listen to the words more closely.

"If he was undercover, I doubt he'd bring a Chimera like that along with him." The first person said in a mocking voice before both were interrupted by a deep snarl.

"He is an injured traveler that I allow to travel with me, nothing more." A deep voice with a slightly insane tone to it said from another part of the room. "Now get some food and water as he should be waking soon if he has not already."

"Y-yes." The first voice said in terror before two sets of footsteps rushed off hissing about 'It' talking.

After a moment of wondering whether it was worth it to attempt opening his eyes, Xander finally decided to try it.

Cracking his eyes open, he froze as he stared into the gaping maw and deep green eyes of a Hyena from the darkest pits of his nightmares.

"Well boy are you going to lay there like a wounded hippo and stare, or are you going to actually do something get up?"

Blinking at the words that had come out of the spotted Hyena's mouth, Xander slowly pushed himself up and looked around the small room carefully before focusing on the creature before him. "Okay… where am I and how the hell did you get out?"

Cackling for a moment, the massive hyena limped back to the wall near the door and flopped back to the floor. "When you jumped into the dark place it pulled all of us out. The Soldier sacrificed himself to protect you as long as he could while I got you through there as fast as possible." The one time spirit said before shifting to show his front right leg was missing up to the shoulder. "Not fast enough it seems even though you caught the brunt of it."

"W-what?" Xander questioned before catching sight of his reflection in the mirror.

--

Xander slowly walked away from the people in the house that had taken care of him for the last few months as he convalesced slowly from the shock.

A hand, an eye, and two fingers from his remaining hand. Fortunately the damage had been focused on the upper half of his body allowing him to walk without needing a crutch or wheelchair.

Walking down the road towards the train station, Xander looked down at the massive three legged Hyena beside him.

Not that anyone believed him when he had tried to explain it, they had been sure it was a Chimera, and a talking Chimera at that.

It seems Hyenas had never existed in this world, a fact that had sent his companion into a depression for several days before he had gotten into a massive fight with a local pack of wild dogs.

From that point on, the huge creature had sworn to show this entire world what a 'True' Hyena was capable of.

"Do you really think these 'Alchemists' will be able to send you back to your home?"

Blinking, Xander looked back towards the train station as it slowly came into view. "That's what they said, the Alchemist and State Alchemists in Central are the most likely to have, or be able to find an answer."

Snorting, the massive beast continued to move down the road beside him. "Well, I'll stick with you for a tiny bit at least."

Nodding, Xander flexed his remaining fingers on his right hand before readjusting his eye patch. "Well, just make sure you keep quiet when we get there, I don't want you getting sucked into some military black bag lab to be pulled apart just to see what makes you tick.

With a dark snarl, the two continued towards their destination.

--

(A/N) Well that's that, I Don't own BtVS or Full metal Alchemist, Timeline wise this is set after the FMA Series and even after the movie.

I hope everyone enjoys this.


End file.
